Competition regulator chews over £7.1bn acquisition of Morrisons

Jan 28, 2022 | News

The UK’s competition watchdog has formally opened an investigation into whether the acquisition of supermarket chain Morrisons by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) will reduce choice for supermarket customers in the country.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has launched a merger inquiry and is inviting comments from interested parties. It has set a deadline of March 24 for a preliminary decision.

CD&R, which has former Tesco boss Terry Leahy as a senior adviser, won an auction for Morrisons in October by bidding a penny a share more than a consortium led by Softbank-owned Fortress Investment Group. Its offer of 287p per share values Morrisons at £7.1bn.

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The boss of easyJet has flagged the airline’s view that testing for Covid across its network “should soon become a thing of the past” as it reported a jump in bookings following this week’s move by the Scottish and UK Governments to removing travel restrictions for fully vaccinated people arriving in the country.

But the budget airline warned that Omicron would continue to have an impact on short-term performance in the second quarter.

The regeneration and property development division of Hargreaves Services has underlined opportunities in Scotland for its renewable energy land assets after posting a rise in profits for the six months to the end of November.

Headquartered in County Durham, the group posted an increase of more than ninefold in pre-tax profits to £10.4m across its services business, land portfolio, and HRMS joint venture in Germany. This was despite an anticipated decline in revenues to £76.1m.

Source: Herald Scotland

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